Article Summary:

In anticipation of Photokina, Canon today officially announced the EOS 50D, a 15.1 megapixel, 1.6x crop 14-bit CMOS sensor digital SLR. The new camera features a 3” VGA LCD, a fast 6.3 fps shooting speed, and the new DIGIC IV image processor, allowing ISO expansion up to 12,800.

Canon users should be happy to learn that Live Mode now offers three autofocus options, “Quick AF, Live AF, and new Face Detection Live AF, which optimizes focus based on faces detected in the frame – for fast, spontaneous portraiture,” and the lens micro-adjustment feature previously found only on the 1D/1Ds Mark III series has been included. The camera is predicted to be available in October 2008 and sell for USD$1399 - discussion has begun in the forums as to whether the 50D will be compatible with current 40D housings.